A digest about that other famous beverage

If you have a recipe you feel confident is amongst the best home brewed beers in the county consider signing up for the Second Annual Sonoma County Home Brewers Competition. The bragging rights of being named best home brewer in Sonoma County is an incentive, but the grand prize can [...]

The 8th Annual SF Beer Week presented by the San Francisco Brewers Guild begins today, January 22nd and concludes on Sunday, January 31st. The nine day celebration of craft beer in the bay area kicks off with a bang at the SF Beer Week Opening Gala from 6pm to 10pm [...]

This Saturday, September 12th Soroptomist International of Healdsburg presents the 29th Annual Beer in the Plaza, taking place in the Healdsburg Downtown Plaza. The family friendly event will take place between 2pm and 6pm. Craft beer drinkers over the age of twenty-one will be charged $50 for unlimited beer tastings, [...]

The 18th Annual Great Petaluma Chili Cookoff, Salsa & Beer Tasting will take place at Behrens Park, Herzog Hall, Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma on Saturday, May 9th from 1pm to 5pm. Those of you choosing to strictly taste the chili and salsa will pay $25 for admission. Kids under the [...]

I put together a list of beer festivals that you should consider marking on your calendar ahead of time. Rest assured that ‘Beer Country’ will follow up with specific information regarding individual festivals as we get closer to them. The 19th Annual Legendary Boonville Beer Festival (May 2nd)- This one [...]

Once the beer has been made and delivered, it’s up to the bottle shops and taprooms to explain why a beer should be the one to purchase to a consumer. Some of the more successful taprooms in the county understand the importance of a knowledgeable staff that can hand sell [...]

'The Rare Barrel' is a brewery that makes sour beer exclusively. There are other breweries making fantastic sour beer in our area, but they are the only brewery in California that focuses on this one style alone. The taproom, which opened in December of 2013 is located at 940 Parker [...]

There are an abundance of breweries opening up throughout Northern California. The majority of them are producing good quality brews. There are however a handful of recently opened breweries that are producing exceptional brews. Cellarmaker Brewing Company in San Francisco is a great example of that. Established just one year [...]

If you haven't gotten your tickets for Sierra Nevada's outstanding-looking Single, Fresh, Wet & Wild festival on Saturday, forget it. The brewery says all tickets are sold out. Same with the 10th annual Brews on the Bay in San Francisco. If any of you are going to either of these [...]

As if there weren't enough fun beer things to do this weekend, what with the Sonoma County Harvest Fair on Saturday and the weekend-long Octubrefest at Carneros Brewing, here's yet another outstanding option: Almanac Beer from San Francisco will be taking over the tasting room at Rincon Valley Wine & [...]

About this blog

A resident of Santa Rosa for most of his life, Peter Lopez Jr., 34, has taken over the duties of beer blogger for the Press Democrat. He has been a part of the beer and wine industry for almost his entire adult life and brings a wealth of knowledge. Currently Peter is a partner at the Healdsburg Emporium where he does the beer and wine purchasing. He is also the wine buyer at Fircrest Market in Sebastopol and the administrator of the NorCal Beer Geeks group on Facebook.

Beer is a big business in this part of the world, with some of the best and most sought-after brews made right in our own back yard. But too often that beer culture is hidden behind the iconic wine industry that defines the region. The Beer Country blog will bring you news and notes about our local brew scene, and maybe a little about cider while we’re at it. Have news, ideas, or questions that need answering? Drop a line in the comments section of the blog or email us at info@pressdemocrat.com